JOCK AND THE ARGIES

The Intercontinental Cup Final was played between the Champions of Europe and the Champion club of South America. In 1967 the Argentine, Racing Club faced Celtic and this finally did what was simmering previously...it "exploded".

The First Leg was played on October 18th at Hampden Park. In this first leg, Celtic manager, no "shrinking violet", Jock Stein, entered the pitch to complain about the treatment being dished out to the Celtic super winger, Jimmy Johnstone. The referee, took no notice and the complaint from the Celtic bench was unheeded, however, Celtic won 1-0 and the template had been set!! .

Before the Second Leg on November 1st, in Buenos Aires, Celtic goalkeeper, Ronnie Simpson, was hit by a missile thrown from the hostile "home" crowd and he suffered a deep cut to his head. He was replaced by reserve keeper John Fallon. Celtic took an early lead through a Tommy Gemmill penalty after Johnstone being hacked down in the area. Johnstone, always dangerous, continued to be kicked around the pitch like an empty beer can! Racing hit back and score two goals, forcing a play off. Stein answered this with "We don't want to play a third game, but I know we have to."                                 The resulting match three days later was more outrageous, being described by Reuters as "a ballroom bar brawl, soccer skills were abandoned replaced by swinging fists, flying boots and blatant body checking." Johnstone was continuously hacked down and he retaliated, causing a melee which resulted in Alfio Basile and Bobby Lennox being sent off. 

Johnstone was among four other players sent off in the second half. Also John Hughes, Berti Auld and Juan Carlos Rulli should have walked, but the last two refused to leave the pitch and the referee allowed them to play on! Clearly the referee had lost control! Celtic having had men sent off, fined them £250 each. The Racing players, whose team won 1-0, all benefited from a new car each!

The match effectively denied Jock Stein,

who had led his Scots to the European Cup win a few months earlier, a knighthood!! His name was removed from the New Year's Honours List because of "unfortunate events in South America!" as explained in a letter sent by the Scottish Office to the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, in 1970. 

The following season when Manchester United won the European Cup (as it was known then) saw an immediate Knighthood given to Sir Matt Busby in the "Birthday List". Poor Jock Stein missed out on his Honour due to the trouble with the Argies!!

1967	Scotland	Celtic	1–0	Racing♦	Argentina	Hampden Park	103,000
	Argentina	Racing♦	2–1	Celtic	Scotland	El Cilindro	n/a
	2 points each; Racing Club won 1–0 in the playoff at Estadio Centenario ‡

WEST HAM HAMMER MANAGER?

West Ham United has had a number of permanent managers in the club's history and an additional three caretaker managers. https://www.whufc.com/en/the-club/history/managers

TODAY...West Ham United's first-team preparations are currently under the temporary guidance of Mark Noble, Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville, following the sacking of head coach Santo.

Up until 1989 the club had only had five different managers. Before the appointment of Gianfranco Zola in 2008 the club never had an overseas manager, with the only non-Englishman being the Scot, Lou Macari. The most recent manager appointed in 2025 after Graham Potter, was the Portuguese Nuno Espirito Santo, who has just departed!! 

Three former West Ham players have taken on temporary managerial roles at the club, between permanent managers. Ronnie Boyce briefly took the reins, in February 1990, between Macari's resignation and the appointment of Billy Bonds. Former Hammers player and board member Trevor Brooking was briefly in charge during two separate spells as caretaker manager in 2003, first during the illness of Glenn Roeder and again between Roeder's sacking and the appointment of Alan Pardew. Former player Kevin Keen has been caretaker manager twice; immediately prior to Zola's appointment in 2008 and after the sacking of Avram Grant in 2011.

Prior to the appointment of West Ham's first manager, team selection was the responsibility of a committee. Lew Bowen served as secretary for the club's initial season of 1900–01. Then came along Syd King, below,

who in May 1902, West Ham appointed full-back Syd King as secretary-manager. King had replaced Bowen as secretary at the start of the 1901–02 season, combining the role with his playing duties. A player with West Ham's predecessor team Thames Ironworks, he continued to play for the newly formed club until 1903. He remained manager until 1932, when he was sacked. He later, sadly committed suicide.

King was replaced by Charlie Paynter, who had been appointed reserve-team trainer in 1902 and was promoted to first-team trainer when Syd King was appointed as manager. Paynter was appointed on 1st November 1932. and he remained as manager until 1950 when he was replaced by Ted Fenton on 1st August 1950. Below...

Fenton was a PT instructor for The Army in North Africa and Burma during World War 2. He had, since 1948, been Paynter's assistant manager. Fenton's greatest achievement was in winning the Division Two championship in the 1957–58 season and thereby securing the club top flight football for the first time since 1932. The 1957–58 and 1958–59 seasons saw West Ham achieve two goalscoring records; in 1957–58, the club scored 101 league goals, and in 1958–59, the club scored 59 home league goals in a season, which was even more remarkable it being the season following promotion to Division One. During his time, Fenton was responsible for establishing The Academy and the development of youth teams that reached the FA Youth Cup final twice in three years over the period 1956–59. AND more positive moves.....

With the help of chairman Reg Pratt he was also responsible for encouraging as many players as possible to take their FA Coaching Badges to ensure the players had something to fall back on when their playing days were over. Seven of the West Ham 1964 FA Cup winning team had either been signed by Ted Fenton from other clubs, or had worked their way up from The Academy during his time as manager. Fenton's departure from West Ham in March 1961 has never been fully explained by the club. Under strain and on sick-leave and with West Ham's league position suffering, he left the club under circumstances which both he and the club decided would remain confidential.

In April 1961, Pratt was selected as manager. 

His reign at West Ham brought them sizeable success. He oversaw the development of players such as the 1966 FIFA World Cup-winning trio of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, and under him the Hammers won the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965, the first two major trophies of their history. He moved upstairs in 1974, becoming the club's general manager for the next three years, with John Lyall being placed in charge of the first team. 

Pratt selected Ron Greenwood as manager. His reign at West Ham brought them sizeable success. He oversaw the development of players such as the "Hammers" who helped win the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965, the 1966 FIFA World Cup winners of Bobby Moore, Geoff (Hat-trick!!) Hurst and Martin Peters (also scored!), and  the first two major trophies of their history. He moved upstairs in 1974, becoming the club's general manager for the next three years. The "rest" (above) completes the history!! There have been so many changes, this list might be inaccurate!

SUNDERLAND-NOT THE CLUB

On November 2nd 1977, Terry Neil...remember him?.....

as Arsenal Manager paid Wolverhampton Wanderers FC £220,000 to bring Alan Sunderland (and below!) to his club, in those days playing at Highbury. It proved to be an astute piece of business, especially when Alan scored the winning goal in the famous "five-minute" FA Cup Final, 1979.     https://www.facebook.com/reel/186352955803630 try this one! Hoped the link works..if not, you know what to do!

Alan Sunderland is 73 years old. (born July 1, 1953).

• Date of birth: July 1, 1953
Place of birth: Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, England

Former position: Forward (playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Arsenal, and Ipswich Town) and Northern Ireland legend.

WALTER CRICKMER- Man U!!

1st November 1930

On this day, Manchester United beat Birmingham City at Old Trafford, after having lost every one of their first twelve Division 1 matches that season (at the time Division 1 was the top division) . United eventually finished bottom of the table and conceded a club record 115 League goals.matches that season!!

Date: Saturday, November 1, 1930
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
Score: Manchester United 2–0 Birmingham City
Attendance: 11,479

The 1930–31 season was Manchester United's 35th season in the Football League.

At the end of the season, United finished last in the league and were relegated to the Second Division, having won just seven games all season and lost all of their opening 12 fixtures. Herbert Bramlett was sacked as manager with six games remaining and relegation looking virtually certain, with club secretary Walter Crickmer stepping in as acting manager for the rest of the season (though Crickmer would, in the event, stay in charge until the summer of 1932). The last game of the season, a 4–4 home draw with Middlesbrough, was watched by fewer than 4,000 spectators, as the Great Depression further affected attendances.

He became Manchester United club secretary in 1926. He twice assumed managerial responsibility: from 1 April 1931 to 1 June 1932, and then again from 1 August 1937 to 1 February 1945.

Together with club owner James W Gibson, he was responsible for instituting the youth development  at Manchester United. After 32 years of service as club secretary, Crickmer was killed in the Munich Air Disaster on 6 February 1958. He is buried at Stretford Cemetery.

Walter Crickmer and Sir Matt Busby, the legendary manager signs his first contract as Manchester Utd manager in 1945.

Personal information
Full name	Walter Raymond Crickmer
Date of birth	17 December 1899
Place of birth	Wigan, Lancashire. England
Date of death	6 February 1958 (age 58)
Place of death	Munich, Germany
Managerial career
Years	Team
1931–1932	Manchester United
1937–1945	Manchester United

Managerial statistics

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %
Manchester United	April 1931	June 1932	43	17	8	18	39.53
Manchester United	November 1937	February 1945	76	30	24	22	39.47

HAVE A GO AT THE SUN HALLOWEEN CELEBRATION!!

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/40849090/footballers-halloween-costumes-joker-clown/

AND IN CASE YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME...... TRY THIS LINK!! SPOOKY EH?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/40849090/footballers-halloween-costumes-joker-clown/

Record Attendance and Ups and Downs

30th October 2012
Arsenal were 4-0 down after just 37 minutes of a Capital One (League Cup) tie at Reading but the Arsenal fans weren't despondent and sang 'We're going to win 5-4'. But they were wrong - Arsenal won 7-5.

30th October 1954
A player who perhaps shouldn't have got away with the statement... 'I'm off to the match this afternoon, darling' was Southport's Billy Holmes!! BELOW......Billy has the rare distinction of being one of two men to score a Football League hat-trick on the day they got married. Married in the morning of Saturday 30th October 1954, the afternoon saw him playing for Southport against Carlisle United in a Division 3 North fixture - and he scored a hat-trick in Southport's 4-1 victory. Quite a day for Billy, then!!

Bill Poyntz of Leeds United scored a hat trick and got married on the morning of the same day. Date: February 20, 1922. The Match: Later that day, he scored a hat trick at Elland Road in a 3–0 Second Division victory against Leicester City and might have scored even later in the day!! 

AND on October 30th 1937, 68,029 fans turned up for the Second Division match between Aston Villa and Coventry City. (see below) Why so many? Well Aston Villa went on to win the Division .....the Sky Blues just missed out of promotion, managing only fourth place! So there was quite a lot in stake, although some distance from the final placing in the Division!

DIVISION 2  1937/38
							P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
	Leading League goalscorer: George Henson  (Bradford PA)  27  goals The highest ever Division 2 attendance was recorded on Saturday 30th October 1937 when 68,029 were at Villa Park to see Aston Villa draw 1-1 with Coventry City. Despite finishing 12th in Division 2 with 'only' 89 League goals to their name Luton Town finished the 1937/38 season as top goalscorers in the whole of the Football League. Check out their GOALS AGAINST!!			1		Aston Villa	42	25	7	10	73	35	57		Promoted
				2		Manchester United	42	22	9	11	82	50	53
				3		Sheffield United	42	22	9	11	73	56	53
				4		Coventry City	42	20	12	10	66	45	52
				5		Tottenham Hotspur	42	19	6	17	76	54	44
				6		Burnley	42	17	10	15	54	54	44
				7		Bradford (Park Avenue)	42	17	9	16	69	56	43
				8		Fulham	42	16	11	15	61	57	43
				9		West Ham United	42	14	14	14	53	52	42
				10		Bury	42	18	5	19	63	60	41
				11		Chesterfield	42	16	9	17	63	63	41
				12		Luton Town	42	15	10	17	89	86	40
				13		Plymouth Argyle	42	14	12	16	57	65	40
				14		Norwich City	42	14	11	17	56	75	39
				15		Southampton	42	15	9	18	55	77	39
				16		Blackburn Rovers	42	14	10	18	71	80	38
				17		Sheffield Wednesday	42	14	10	18	49	56	38
				18		Swansea Town	42	13	12	17	45	73	38
				19		Newcastle United	42	14	8	20	51	58	36
				20		Nottingham Forest	42	14	8	20	47	60	36
				21		Barnsley	42	11	14	17	50	64	36		Relegated
				22		Stockport County	42	11	9	22	43	70	31

CHEER UP ADRIAN (It's not that important) and SIR ALEX (It's 1,000!)

On this day (October 29th) in 2004, Adrian Mutu (below) was given a punishment that you would not "sniff" at. He was sacked by Chelsea after testing positive for cocaine. Chelsea FC ditched their £15.8m, Romanian striker, who claimed that he had used the drug in order to improve his "sex" life. There were claims that he had lived up to every Transylvanian stereotype by sucking on the blood of his WAG!!

I am writing this as news of the Russell Brand taking "the stand".  I leave that up to you to pursue. 

On a lighter note, at Old Trafford, a year later, as Fergie's "LADS" became the first club to score 1,000 goals since the start of the Premier League in 1992. You would have done well to raise a smile on Sir Alex's face though, as Christiano Ronaldo's injury time goal proved to be the only consolation as opponents Middlesbrough cruised to a 4-1 win.

Score	4-1 to Middlesbrough
Referee	Alan Wiley
Competition	Premier League
Venue	Riverside Stadium
Attendance	30,579